WILD FLOWERS YELLOW AND ORANGE 
with their Boneset, Catnip, Goldthread, and a various 
assortment of garden herbs. Coltsfoot was con- 
siderably used at one time as a family remedy for 
coughs and colds, and many a steaming cupful has 
been sipped by country people for this purpose. Its 
Latin name, an old one used by Pliny, is derived from 
dussis, a cough, and ago, alluding to the medicinal 
use of the leaves. The ancients smoked the leaves of 
Coltsfoot for relief in cases of asthma. Its fresh 
juice has been used for affections of the skin, and in 
Germany the dried Jeaves are said to be used as a 
substitute for smoking tobacco. The flowers of the 
Coltsfoot look something like those of an imperfectly 
developed, or half-opened Dandelion, but where the 
flower heads of the Dandelion are slightly tufted or 
raised toward the centre, those of the Coltsfoot are 
cupped or hollowed, more like an Aster, with a finely 
fringed edge. The rather large, solitary flower is 
borne on a thick, hollow, light green stem, rising 
direct from the long, slender, creeping perennial root 
from four to eighteen inches in height. It is usually 
stained with red and is covered with numerous scale- 
like and alternating leaflets. The light yellow flower 
head is of a lighter shade than that of the Dandelion, 
and is set in a deep, leafy, thimble-shaped green cup. 
It is composed of many ray and disc florets — an 
arrangement fully explained in the description of the 
Asters. The ray florets are fringe-like, and the small 
disc florets are five-parted. They have an agreeable 
odour, and as they fade, they turn to red-brown. 
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